Russian Hair Tutorials

I normally try to avoid posts on Russian things, but I just got suckered into hair tutorials on YouTube and I don't know how I do it, but I ended up in the Russian corner of YouTube hair tutorials.  This is such a typical occurrence: I will be browsing through various suggested videos and then I end up east of Germany on the internet.  It must be the law of attraction.

I found so many tutorials from Russia, some of them nuttier than others.  I was fascinated by the prevalence of hair twisting.  Most of the western world (at least through the lens of Pinterest..) is obsessed with good ol' fashioned braids, while the Russians seem to like twisting their hair.  My glib survey of Russian hair tutorials have given me quite a variety.

Democracy - where is it going?

I saw this clip and all I could do was let my jaw drop.  WHAT.  Greece may now have to live with the choices it made under duress and they don't look pretty.  Neo-nazis: not the good guy and never have been.

There have been some predictions that the surmounting pressure of the crisis will push Europe to more integration instead of breaking apart.  This sounded a bit odd to me because I read this recently, which indicates some internal schism and some frankly un-German behavior, which is called out in this article.  Germans are notable for their consistent rule following and this smacks of Italian "I am the exception" flavor.  Beefing up Schengen borders, after having seen that disgraceful behavior, seems to make sense.  The Greeks are losing their proverbial "sh*t" - it drove things so far into the ground that it can potentially turn into a lawless free for all.  In a lot of ways, the Greek situation mirrors that of many African nations because it has racked up debt, feels the surmounting pressure from western Europeans, and has relied heavily on governance as a source of employment.  Their administration was bloated with employees and was notoriously bad with money.  Greeks have also been called out on unpaid taxes (oops).   Youth are unemployed and know that they're getting taken for all they will eventually be worth.

So the question remains, is there going to be more European integration?  Or is it all pretend?  I don't know.  I've been out of the loop, so I'm remaining on high alert.  However, I don't see any serious moves towards more integration--perhaps that will be a panic move at the twelfth hour.

A Few Good Things

I am up and running after a month of wedding related insanity.  To top it all off, I am being pushed to a new job.  It's a tiring time, but I have a few fun bits to share.


German Acceptance?
I am a follower of the Chicago Goethe Institut since I spent lots of money continuing my German there, and they posted this article.  I have mentioned my total love of all ethnic things (a reason why anthropology jived so well with me) and it delights me to no end to see Europeans embracing diversity without being threatened.  Europeans are facing a lot of existential crises right now, at least on a political level, and the idea of embracing a cross-cultural understanding is a big one.  Europe's general stance has been one-sided adoption and fretted about "integration", which was a PC code word for "assimilation".  This ethnic-loving American is thrilled to pieces, even with such a small gesture.


Hungarian Tradition - Redesigned Beautifully

I originally came across this on Design*Sponge, but it also had an appearance on Design East, which I referenced during my Design Week.  This is from the design shop Dombon a tanya and it is a fresh take on Komatál (Platter or Friendship).  I read up a little bit on komatál here and it's such a cute tradition!  I'd love to pass it along even though I have no Hungarian lineage.  This would be such a cute housewarming or dinner party gift.  When you give it, you can tell people the culture behind it and sound really sophisticated as well.  Win!

from designeast.eu

Hungary, Again?!
Never a dull moment with Orbán at the helm.  Looks like the EU has "bullied" Magyarország enough for its own purposes.  Is he really surprised at the EU's tough stance in the midst of the Greek crisis?  C'mon.  We all knew it was going to play tough guy, especially when it comes to democratic issues.  I continue to be interested in what it will to take to push Hungarians to the point of revolution.  It almost seems like they learned from their failed revolutions, but learned the wrong lesson.  It's still worth fighting for what's good and right, even if it fails.  History will prove you a hero.


Tune in for more updates in the near future!  Maybe even an op ed.  Ooooh...

Satellites by Jonas Bendiksen

I haven't much energy or time with the wedding so close, so I thought I would share this video of Jonas Bendiksen's photo essay.  He explored the fringes of the Soviet Union for  a number of yearsand has some interesting insights into the forgotten places of the world.  Christine from the Half Day Around project showed this to me a few days ago and I was captivated.  I hope you love it as much as I did!

Romanian Fashion

I'm bringing the clothes back!  I do not have a collection of designers like my previous posts because I am focusing on one designer.  Months ago, right as I was getting engaged, I received an email from Loredana Novotni, a recent MA in Fashion graduate.  After the little bit of flattery, she asked to be featured and all I had to do was scroll down to see the pictures before I hit "Reply".

I would introduce Loredana more, but her feature on Fashion Brewery is excellent and the feature on Re-Design for Life talks about her foray into fashion.  She's been featured on numerous websites, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel by asking my own questions.  You can see more of her work and find more features of her on her blog.  Let's get started on the collection she emailed me about: SacRED.